Tar Heels find energy, stymie Hokies — with Cherry on top

By Conor O'Neill / Times-News

Published: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 12:50 AM.

“Winning makes everything feel better, but it’s hard to say we were struggling when we have 52 wins,” Moran said. “It’s just baseball, it’s a long season. You’re going to go through some slumps, some downs, but this is big going into next weekend.”

-- EXTRA BASES …: Sunday marked the first time in four games of the tournament that North Carolina played a nine-inning game after winning in eight innings (10-0 vs. Miami), 14 innings (12-7 vs. Clemson) and 18 innings (2-1 vs. N.C. State) in three previous games. … Tar Heels senior first baseman Cody Stubbs was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. … Total attendance for the tournament was 58,454, which is the fourth-highest total in league history.

DURHAM — North Carolina coach Mike Fox said pitcher Taylore Cherry got the starting nod for Sunday afternoon’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship because “he was the only one we had left.”

Fox quickly had clarify he was joking because, well, that easily could have been the case.

“That was supposed to be funny,” Fox said.

The Tar Heels finished what they sensed was a championship in their hands with a 4-1 victory against Virginia Tech at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

It is the first ACC Tournament championship since 2007 and sixth total for North Carolina (52-8).

If Cherry wasn’t the last available pitcher for Fox, that was close to being the case. The 6-foot-8, 270-pound freshman had pitched 3 1/3 innings in five appearances this season, with his last coming April 24.

Cherry pitched five innings — throwing more pitches (90) in Sunday’s start than he had all season (73). The hulking righty said he was able to stymie the Virginia Tech bats with a bevy of fastballs.

“Fastball, that’s about all I threw and it was working, so I might as well go back to it,” Cherry said.

Cherry’s biggest moment came in the fifth inning when he induced Chad Pinder to ground out to shortstop Michael Russell with the bases loaded and two outs. Pinder made the out on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, a battle that saw three pitches fouled off on a full count.

“Yeah, I haven’t quite been there this year, especially in that situation,” Cherry said. “But when it got to 3-2, all I was thinking was get the ball over the plate, throw fastballs.”

Following Saturday night’s marathon 18-inning victory against North Carolina State, Fox got the feeling before the game that the Tar Heels wouldn’t be too exhausted for the quick turnaround.

“I really think … after (Saturday) night, the players thought it was our championship to win,” Fox said. “I didn’t say that or hear anybody say it, you could just sense it. Hopefully, we didn’t go through all that for nothing.”

So when third baseman Colin Moran — who went 2-for-3 on Sunday — was asked if he had any lasting effects from Saturday night, the underspoken junior shot down any doubt.

“It wasn’t too hard. When you’re playing for a championship, it’s not too hard to get up for it,” Moran said. “You’d be lying if you weren’t a little bit tired, but you can run on adrenaline.”

Hitting in front of Moran was Landon Lassiter, who went 2-for-3 and scored three runs. The Tar Heels’ first two runs — in the first and third innings — were nearly identical, with Skye Bolt driving in Lassiter on grounders.

Lassiter scored again in the eighth inning when the Tar Heels added two insurance runs. With runners on first and second and no outs, Bolt laid down a sacrifice bunt, but reliever Joe Mantiply spun and threw the ball past third base.

Mantiply made the play based on direction from coach Pete Hughes.

“I played like we couldn’t afford to give another run up. It just didn’t work out,” Hughes said.

Reliever Trevor Kelley finished off Virginia Tech (38-20) in the ninth without allowing a runner, as was the case in both the seventh and eighth innings. Kelley pitched four innings and allowed one hit. It was the third relief performance of the weekend that was at least four scoreless innings, with Kelley following the lead of Reilly Hovis (Friday night) and Trent Thornton (Saturday night).

North Carolina entered the tournament having won four of its previous eight games. While that isn’t a troubling stretch for most teams, it raised eyebrows for a team that started its season 39-2.

Moran thinks the performance in the performance in the ACC Tournament will carry into the NCAAs.

“Winning makes everything feel better, but it’s hard to say we were struggling when we have 52 wins,” Moran said. “It’s just baseball, it’s a long season. You’re going to go through some slumps, some downs, but this is big going into next weekend.”

-- EXTRA BASES …: Sunday marked the first time in four games of the tournament that North Carolina played a nine-inning game after winning in eight innings (10-0 vs. Miami), 14 innings (12-7 vs. Clemson) and 18 innings (2-1 vs. N.C. State) in three previous games. … Tar Heels senior first baseman Cody Stubbs was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. … Total attendance for the tournament was 58,454, which is the fourth-highest total in league history.